China’s Wankai New Materials runs new PET unit at 40%

29 March 2012 05:43[Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--?xml:namespace>China’s Zhejiang Waikai New Materials is running its 400,000 tonne/year polyethylene terephthalate (PET) continuous polymer unit at 40% after starting it up on 11 March, a company source said on Thursday.

The unit at Zhejiang province, eastern China, comprises two solid-state polymer lines with a capacity of 200,000 tonnes/year each, the source added.

Wankai New Materials has an existing 250,000 tonne/year plant at the same site and the addition of the new unit will increase the company’s total PET capacity to 650,000 tonnes/year.

China is Asia’s largest PET producer and the capacity expansion by producers, such as China Resources and Wankai New Materials, will boost the country’s nameplate PET bottle chip capacity to 6.5m tonnes/year in 2012 from 4.9m tonnes/year in 2011, according to ICIS.